San Jose: Two people dead after light-rail train, car collide

Police say railway safety arms were down and working

Share this:

At least two people are dead after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

A damaged barrier at the scene where at least two people died after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Two men walk near the scene where at least two people died after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Two firefighters walk near the scene where at least two people died after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

At least two people are dead after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

A woman takes a picture of the scene where at least two people died after a car and a light rail collided near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Click HERE if you’re having trouble viewing the gallery or video on your mobile device.

Two men were killed Sunday afternoon when a car drove around railway crossing arms and crashed into a light-rail train in San Jose, according to police.

The collision happened near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues around 12:34 p.m., along the northbound tracks, according to Brandi Childress, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA.

The train came off the tracks as a result of the collision, Childress said.

San Jose police said the car, a gold Buick Regal, was traveling southbound on Lincoln Avenue and approaching the VTA train crossing on the 500 block of Lincoln Avenue south of Auzerais Avenue. The VTA railway crossing arms were down and functioning, but the man behind the wheel of the Buick drove around the crossing arms and was hit by the train, police said.

The driver and adult male passenger in the Buick were pronounced deceased at the scene, marking the city’s 24th and 25th traffic-related fatalities of 2018. Monday morning, the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office were still withholding the names of the men.

Service along the Winchester/Mountain View light-rail line was suspended for several hours for the investigation into the crash and for repairs to the track and overhead wires, Childress said.

At 4:52 a.m. Monday, VTA reported crews made the necessary repairs overnight but trains would be operating through that area at 5 MPH, which could cause delays.

Approximately 20 passengers were on board the train and were evaluated after the collision. None of them was reported injured, Childress said.

The driver of the train was transported to a hospital for testing, which Childress said is standard in an incident like this.

San Jose police are leading the investigation into the collision, and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office transit patrol unit as well as paramedics were at the scene Sunday afternoon, Childress said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Brian McMahon of the San Jose Police Department’s Traffic Investigations Unit at 408-277-4654.

Joseph Geha is a multimedia journalist covering Fremont, Newark, and Union City for the Bay Area News Group, and is based at The Argus. His prior work has been seen in multiple Bay Area news outlets, including SF Weekly, as well as on KQED and KLIV radio. He is a graduate of California State University, East Bay (Hayward), and is a Fremont native. He is a lifelong Oakland Athletics fan.

Mark Gomez has worked for the Mercury News since 1992, including the past ten years as a reporter on the breaking news/public safety team. He is a South Bay native and graduate of San Jose State University.

Google bought the four-building Chesapeake Commons office complex, a Sunnyvale campus that consists of four buildings that are two stories each, and situated on a site potentially ripe for redevelopment with much taller offices.

Not since the 1940s has California had single-digit Republican representation in Congress. Now there are eight. Republicans held 14 of California's 53 seats in the House of Representatives before the midterm election. But with the final votes being tallied, Democrats have succeeded in ousting Republicans from every congressional seat in the GOP stronghold Orange County. Now, who from California is...

A new report says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone to "war" in response to criticisms of the company. And his new approach has led to friction with several top executives, including Sheryl Sandberg.